I’ve been unmotivated in the past but i think it’s time to sort out an alternative.

  • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    A: they’re betting most people will accept it, and they’re right. The same thing happened in the early 80s when cable television advertised themselves as the pay-for-ad-free service, then started sneaking ads in. People complained, sure, but we all saw the outcome. They got away with it.

    B: Greed, capitalism, and fuck you.

    • SSTF@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      A: they’re betting most people will accept it, and they’re right.

      Yes. Remember when Netflix put a stop to password sharing and the internet went aflame with people declaring that Netflix had shot itself in the foot? Netflix subscriber counts went up.

      The average person will put up with so much more of this nonsense than techie people will.

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 months ago

        It’s why I highly recommend Fmovies, sudo-lol, and others. The barrier to entry is literally a browser and ublock origin and you can watch just about anything.

        You can send someone a link to an episode and they can watch it. No sign ups, no ads (with ad block), and pretty decent service. No explaining what a torrent is. No VPN (though I recommend it of course).

        Just pure content.

          • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 months ago

            It depends on your threat profile. I don’t go so far as to use it at home unless I’m downloading torrents or watching porn, since my legislators don’t have a fucking clue how the Internet works and thinks they can PrOtEcT tHe ChIlDrEn by blocking porn.

            I’ve started to use VPN when I’m on guest wifis, even encrypted ones. I don’t want their owners to know what sites I visit.

              • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                2 months ago

                I live in the US. If you live in a state or country that’s totalitarian, then yes a VPN is probably a good idea, tor if you can handle the latency.

                It’s only a matter of time until both of those technologies are made illegal.

          • Kairos@lemmy.today
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            2 months ago

            I’m saying that it’s false to insinuate subscribers going up due to this change. That’s false. Anything about total revenue is a completely different sentence. And it likely decreased or stayed about the same as the United States is more or less the most expensive reigon.

            Perhaps they hid it among a period of growth to fool investors.

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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      3 months ago

      i haven’t had cable, or even a tv, in many years. stayed at a hotel the other day and flicked on the tv because the internet was out (helene), and was flabbergasted that for every 2 minutes of programming, there was at least 5 minutes of the same commercials over and over. people fucking watch this shit? on purpose?

      • Graphy@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        When my wife and I stay at a hotel we watch cable and put on like QVC shopping channels.

        It’s fun to overreact and be like “this is 100 genuine silver painted lead.” Some of the channels will have like changing infographics that flash and explode every second as the price keeps dropping so we make wooshing sounds as it keeps falling to a new low.

    • aubeynarf@lemmynsfw.com
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      3 months ago

      Cable television never advertised that. Cable TV started as a “community antenna” system that served people in valleys with existing off-the-air broadcast channels (which had ads); the existence of those systems created a market for satellite-fed channels like HBO (which was always a separate subscription and ad-free) and TBS/CNN (which always carried ads). Other than the premium channels like HBO/Showtime/Cinemax, cable channels have had ads from the beginning.

      Once the small cable systems and the media publishers both got consolidated, we started seeing content licensing deals and higher costs to the subscriber to pay for it - but the channels (MTV, Nickelodeon, etc) always carried ads.

      • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        It definitely did. I remember it vividly (I was alive back then). And I’m talking about the premium services, specifically (e: which was the point of my comparison: the premium paid services back then advertised no-ad service, then included ads, just like the premium streaming services are doing today).

        Here’s an article from the NYT in 1981 on the topic:

        WILL CABLE TV BE INVADED BY COMMERCIALS?

        e: a quote:

        Indeed, even pay television, once assumed to be secure from commercial interests, is attracting some attention as a potential vehicle for advertising. Admittedly, such leading pay cable services as Home Box Office and Showtime, whose programming consists primarily of theatrically released films, staunchly maintain that they will never accept advertising.

        • JWBananas@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Literally the first sentence of that article:

          Although cable television was never conceived of as television without commercial interruption, there has been a widespread impression - among the public, at least -that cable would be supported largely by viewers’ monthly subscription fees.

          The premium services mentioned in your quote (HBO, Showtime) also still do not run ads even today.

      • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Yes and no. Networks had ads but cable began inserting their own ads in addition to the network ads. When I ran a company I did large media buys with cable companies. I would buy ads from the regional cable company which would air in between the national ads of Comedy Central, Discovery, etc.

      • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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        2 months ago

        That’s not correct. My parents were early adopters and I remember there were newspaper articles when the first channel started showing ads.

        …a newspaper is like a primitive early printed facebook.